The present disclosure pertains to a merchandising system. More specifically, the disclosure relates to a base and divider assembly employed in a forward feeding display merchandising system for storing and displaying merchandise of a variety of shapes and sizes and automatically delivering the merchandise to the front of a shelf. More particularly, the disclosure pertains to a cooperating member, such as a divider or track which can be selectively locked to a front rail or mounting member of the merchandising system.
Shelving is used extensively for stocking and storing products or merchandise in a variety of stores, such as grocery stores, drug stores and mass merchandisers, such as Walmart, Kmart and the like. Most consumer product stores contain fixed shelving which is arranged back to back between aisleways, on which shelving merchandise is stocked. It is desirable for merchandise to be displayed at the front edge of the shelf so that the customer can see the merchandise and be induced to purchase such merchandise. In such stores, if the shelves are not positioned at eye level, it is difficult for the customer to see the items being displayed, if the items are not located adjacent the front edge of the shelf. Also, fixed shelves make it difficult to rotate product, i.e., move the older stock to the front of the shelf and position newer stock behind the older stock. Rotating products is an important consideration if the goods are perishable or subject to becoming stale (cigarettes, fruit juices, dairy products and the like fall into this category). It is important for such articles that they be removed following a first in, first out system to maintain freshness.
Forward feed devices are employed to automatically move an item forward on a shelf, as the item before it in a column of merchandise is removed from the shelf. These devices generally fall into three categories. The first category pertains to inclined tracks which rely on gravity to feed, slide, or roll products forward on the shelf. Gravity feeding, however, may be unpredictable in that various materials or packages slide more easily than others because of different weights and frictional interfaces between the products and the track. The second category employs conveyor belts which still use gravity to effect forward movement. These devices are typically cumbersome, expensive and complicated due to the need to properly tension the track and the conveyor belts. The third category uses spring biased pusher paddles to feed the product forward. Such paddle based forward feed devices have become very popular and have been found useful for a variety of merchandise.
In the third category, separate dividers and tracks containing pusher paddles are usually employed, along with end dividers to separate the merchandise into columns. It has been considered advantageous to provide an integrated track and divider system because such an integrated track and divider makes assembly of the merchandising system on a shelf easier for store personnel as there are less components to handle. However, an integrated track and divider is disadvantageous from the perspective that the divider cannot be removed from the track should that become necessary. In some circumstances, such as for wide products, a drop in track is desired so that two pusher paddles urge the merchandise forward. Currently, a separate track has to be produced for this purpose. It would be advantageous to provide a two part track and divider assembly in which the divider can be selectively separated from the track or connected thereto. In other words, it would be desirable to provide a connection structure to selectively engage the divider with the track or disengage the divider from the track as may be required in a particular merchandising environment.
It would also be desirable to selectively lock the dividers to the front rail in order to retard the sideward or lateral movement of the dividers as product is being pushed forward on the track by the spring biased pusher paddles. In other words, it would be desirable to allow the divider to selectively engage the front rail in such a way that the divider is allowed to slide sideways in relation to the front rail in one end position of a locking assembly and is retarded from such sliding movement in another end position of the locking assembly. Ideally, the divider would be movable in a lateral direction parallel to the front rail while being secured in a direction perpendicular to the front rail when a locking member is disengaged but the divider would resist movement in the lateral direction parallel to the front rail and would remain secured in a direction perpendicular to the front rail when the locking member is engaged. It may be advantageous to provide tracks with such a feature as well.